Method and arrangement for entering a preceding vehicle autonomous following mode

• US 9,187,095 B2
• Filed: 10/12/2010
• Issued: 11/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Volvo Lastvagnar AB (AB Volvo)
• Original Assignee: Volvo Lastvagnar AB (AB Volvo)
• Inventors: Gerdt, Philip
• Primary Examiner(s): Shafi, Muhammad
• Application Number:
  US13/879,031
• Publication Number:
  US 20130231829A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,862 Days
• Field of Search: 701400-541, 701/23, 701/41, 340/903, 340/435, 340/436, 180/168, 342/455
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/04 including control of propulsion units
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/18 including control of braking systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/20 including control of steering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/00 Input parameters relating to data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/65 Data transmitted between vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/16 Control of distance between vehicles, e.g. keeping a distance to preceding vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/165 Automatically following the path of a preceding lead vehicle, e.g. "electronic tow-bar"
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0061 for transition from automatic pilot to manual pilot and vice versa
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/024 in combination with a laser lasers per se H01S
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0251 extracting 3D information from a plurality of images taken from different locations, e.g. stereo vision stereoscopic image analysis H04N13/00; depth recovery from images G06T7/593
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0257 using a radar radar systems designed for anti-collision purposes between land vehicles or between land vehicle and fixed obstacles G01S13/931
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/017 identifying vehicles G08G1/015, G08G1/054 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/163 involving continuous checking

Abstract

A method for entering a preceding vehicle autonomous following mode includes the steps of registering and identifying at least one preceding vehicle in front of a host vehicle by at least a first and a second sensor device, comparing the preceding vehicle with vehicle data in a remote database system, and upon a match establishing a communication channel between the preceding vehicle and the host vehicle, identifying to an operator of the host vehicle preceding vehicles with which the communication channel has been established, and obtaining from the operator a selection of a target vehicles to engage following of. Finally, autonomous following mode of the target vehicle is engaged, wherein a vehicle control system automatically controls at least the following three main functions of the host vehicle: forward propulsion, steering, and braking.

Claims

1. A method for entering a preceding vehicle autonomous following mode comprising the steps of:

registering at least one preceding vehicle in front of a host vehicle by means of at least a first and a second sensor device;

identifying the at least one preceding vehicle;

comparing the at least one preceding vehicle with vehicle data in a remote database system, determining whether there is a match between the at least one preceding vehicle with the vehicle data, and upon identifying a match, establishing a communication channel between the at least one preceding vehicle and the host vehicle;

identifying to an operator of the host vehicle preceding vehicles with which the communication channel has been established;

obtaining from the operator a selection of a target vehicle from among preceding vehicles with which the communication channel has been established to engage following of; and

engaging autonomous following mode of the target vehicle, by automatically controlling at least the following three main functions of the host vehicle;

forward propulsion, steering, and braking.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first sensor device is an image sensor adapted for object detection identification, and where the second sensor device is range sensor that is adapted to measure at least the range to the at least one preceding vehicle from the host vehicle.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of identifying the at least one preceding vehicle comprises recognising an identifier of a license plate or other type of unique marking of the at least one preceding vehicle such that a unique identity of the at least one preceding vehicle can be determined.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of identifying the at least one preceding vehicle comprises estimating a position of the at least one preceding vehicle, wherein estimating a position of the at least one preceding vehicle is based on at least measured relative position thereof, and knowledge of at least position of host vehicle, wherein at least the position of the host vehicle is provided by means of a GPS-device.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein at least the measured relative position and/or measured relative speed is obtained by fusing information received from the at least first and second sensor devices.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the remote database system is a stationary database system connected to at least one wireless communication device for establishing communication channels with vehicles registered in the database system, wherein the communication channels are based on wireless telecommunication.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the database system comprises a collection of vehicle data representing a plurality of unique vehicle identities, which vehicle data comprises identifiers of license plates or other type of unique vehicle markings, or position information provided by the vehicles.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of establishing a communication channel between the at least one preceding vehicle and the host vehicle is implemented by means of communication routing via the database system, or by means of an external cellular communication without routing via the database system, or by means of a direct wireless point-to-point communication channel.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of identifying to the operator of the host vehicle preceding vehicles with which the communication channel has been established is realized by means of a human-machine interface, wherein status information is provided to the operator indicating with which of the preceding vehicles the communication channel has been established.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the status information is realized by at least one frame displayed on a digital screen and surrounding the preceding vehicles with which the communication channel is established.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of obtaining from the operator of the host vehicle a target vehicle to engage following of comprises obtaining from the operator selection information indicating a unique preceding vehicle by means of an input device.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of obtaining from the operator a preferred range gap between the host vehicle and the target vehicle, which preferred range gap is adopted as a reference gap by the vehicle control system during operation of the autonomous following mode.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the range gap is set such that the range between the target vehicle and the host vehicle during operating autonomous following mode at speeds above 50 km/h is less than 30 meters.

14. A method for entering a preceding vehicle autonomous following mode comprising the steps of:

registering at least one preceding vehicle in front of a host vehicle by means of at least a first and a second sensor device;

identifying the at least one preceding vehicle;

comparing the at least one preceding vehicle with vehicle data in a remote database system, determining whether there is a match between the at least one preceding vehicle with the vehicle data, and upon identifying a match, establishing a communication channel between the at least one preceding vehicle and the host vehicle;

identifying to an operator of the host vehicle preceding vehicles with which the communication channel has been established;

obtaining from the operator a selection of a target vehicle from among preceding vehicles with which the communication channel has been established to engage following of; and

engaging autonomous following mode of the target vehicle, by automatically controlling at least the following three main functions of the host vehicle;

forward propulsion, steering, and braking,

wherein the step of identifying to the operator of the host vehicle preceding vehicles with which the communication channel has been established is realized by means of a human-machine interface, wherein status information is provided to the operator indicating with which of the preceding vehicles the communication channel has been established, wherein the status information is realized by at least one frame displayed on a digital screen and surrounding the preceding vehicles with which the communication channel is established, and wherein the status information is realized by at least one frame having at least a first colour and a second colour, wherein each of the preceding vehicles with which the communication channel has been established is indicated with a frame having first colour, and each of the registered vehicles with which no communication channel has been established is indicated with a frame having a second colour.